MAGAZINE
September 2020 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
Ordinarily, the private equity (PE) industry is less susceptible to the ebb and flow of the global economic cycle due to its long-term investment horizon. For example, it was largely successful in weathering the 2007-08 global financial crisis; however, PE will not emerge…
FEATURES
US inbound acquisitions post COVID-19
With abundant cheap financing available and record low interest rates, M&A activity was robust for most of the last decade. As world trade became increasingly globalised, cross-border dealmaking increased as a key source of growth for many companies. Over this time…
Reshaping the future: post-pandemic sustainability
Sustainability has become a buzzword in the boardroom in recent years, with international programmes, such as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris climate agreement and the Global Sustainable Initiative (GSI), imbuing companies with the moral…
Broken links: supply chain management amid global disruption
The global nature of coronavirus (COVID-19) has brought considerable disruption to supply chains, with many suppliers severely restricted and others severed entirely. Simultaneously, the pandemic’s disruptive effects highlight the importance of effective supply chain management…
The European Commission (EC) is undertaking a significant, much-needed overhaul of the digital market in the European Union (EU). On 2 June, it launched public consultation on its forthcoming, long-awaited Digital Services Act (DSA), which will propose new rules for companies…
Pandemic possibilities: healthcare reform amid COVID-19
Extreme circumstances often beget extraordinary changes. The emergence of coronavirus (COVID-19), for instance, has caused major disruption to a multitude of industries, and, at the same time, forced them to rethink how they conduct their business. One industry…
ROUNDTABLE
THE PANELLISTS: Colin Ashford, Brown Rudnick LLP; Craig Montgomery, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP; Richard Boynton, Kirkland & Ellis International LLP; and Van C. Durrer II, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
The onset of COVID-19 has led to disputes between companies whose revenues have been severely affected and creditors who, in many cases, have gone unpaid. Although governmental interventions, such as restrictions on winding up petitions, have had an obvious and profound…
SPECIAL REPORT
Q&A: Preparing for private equity exits: impact of COVID-19
FW discusses the impact of COVID-19 on private equity exit preparations with Michael J. Ulmer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Jennifer Bellah Maguire at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
Private equity looks to capitalise on post-COVID economic recovery
Preqin Private equity (PE) funds are on the hunt for new investment opportunities. With the emergency work ensuring portfolio companies can weather the COVID-19 storm largely done, pressure to make acquisitions is building. It is partly the weight of available capital…
The changing world of private equity
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton In his often-quoted article ‘Eclipse of the Public Corporation’, published in the 1989 September – October issue of the Harvard Business Review, Michael C. Jensen shed light on what he described as new corporate organisations which did not rely on public equity…
ESG in private equity: a time to shine?
Herbert Smith Freehills Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues dominated public discourse and boardroom agendas in the months leading up to the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has laid bare the clear nexus between business and society. This is reflected in calls for…
The growth in foreign investment regimes and its impact on international M&A
Ashurst LLP One of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to accelerate an expansion of foreign direct investment (FDI) controls which had already been in progress. Countries which previously did not have FDI regimes are increasingly adopting them, and those with pre-existing…
Perspectives on Brazilian M&A and private equity
Redirection In 2019, Brazil’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 1.1 percent, inflation and interest rates were at historic lows and the stock market hit record highs, growing 32 percent, as did M&A activity. The country was also the fourth largest destination for…
Indonesia’s private equity trend amid the COVID-19 situation
Ali Budiardjo Nugroho Reksodiputro (ABNR) Indonesia, home to 260 million people, is known for its large domestic demand, vast natural resources and affordable labour. The Indonesian government has also been working on removing complicated bureaucracy and simplifying regulations to create a…
TALKINGpoint
M&A in the manufacturing sector
FW discusses M&A in the manufacturing sector with Kristin Ringland at EY.
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Allstate acquires National General in $4bn transaction
In a deal designed to scale up its auto insurance business at a time when coronavirus (COVID-19) has decimated traffic on roads and reduced claims, US insurer Allstate Corporation is to acquire National General Holdings Corporation for approximately $4bn. The acquisition…
Uber to acquire Postmates for $2.65bn
Less than a month after a failed attempt to acquire Grubhub, Uber Technologies has agreed to purchase Postmates Inc for $2.65bn in an all-stock move which will expand its food delivery market share. The boards of directors of both companies have approved…
private equity & venture capital
Bain to acquire Virgin Australia but creditors try to block deal
Virgin Australia, which collapsed into administration in April with around $3.17bn worth of debt, is to be sold to US private equity group Bain Capital. Deloitte, as administrator for Virgin Australia, announced in late June that it had signed a deal with Bain…
PE firms agree $20bn stake in energy investment vehicle
In what is so far the single-largest energy infrastructure investment of 2020, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has entered into an agreement with a consortium of leading infrastructure investors and operators, sovereign wealth and pension funds to invest…
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Chesapeake Energy Corp files for Chapter 11
Almost a year after warning it was in danger of violating its credit agreements, shale gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corporation has announced that it has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 protection in order to facilitate a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring…
Intu Properties enters administration
On 26 June, Intu Properties, which owns and operates 17 shopping centres across the UK, including intu Trafford Centre, intu Lakeside, intu Merry Hill and intu MetroCentre, in addition to a shopping centre and development site in Spain, was placed into administration…
PROFESSIONALinsight
Sustainable investments in private credit: demystifying growth of ESG in leveraged loans
Minter Ellison LLP As global financial markets recover from the coronavirus crisis (COVID-19), limited partners, pension funds and family offices are pushing private equity (PE) funds and direct lenders to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into their investments…
Minority investor protections in project joint ventures
King & Spalding Global investment into large-scale projects in infrastructure, energy, natural resources and heavy industry continues against an uncertain backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, heightened trade tensions and regional geopolitical instability. The forces driving these investments…
The EU is set to control foreign subsidies
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP For decades, the EU has been entirely open for investments from outside the now 27-strong block. While its rules regarding the free movement of people, goods and services only cover its member states, capital – including foreign, i.e., non-EU direct investment (FDI)…
SPOTlight
UK merger control – the new normal
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP UK merger control is quirky. In most European countries, mergers have to be notified to a competition authority if they meet the relevant thresholds. And until the authority has given its clearance, the transaction cannot close. In the UK, a merger filing is voluntary…
L2 Counsel As summer 2020 progresses, the initial public offering (IPO) window is surprisingly wide open, and tech and life science companies are scrambling to get out before it shuts. At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies shelved their IPO plans to shore up their operations…
Effective use of data and analytics increases the impact of a compliance programme
Novartis Data and connectivity will likely be remembered as the corporate buzzwords of the 21st century, and for good reason. Companies are now able to collect data both internally and externally with an impressively high level of detail. As with all good things, however, there is a catch…
Construction disputes: avoiding delays in conflict resolution
Fieldfisher Construction disputes can arise for a number of reasons. Usually, it is because one or more parties have failed to comply with contractual obligations, because of errors or omissions in contract documentation and design, or over suspension and termination provisions…
Coming to America: avoiding US tax disasters on stock options
Sullivan & Worcester Among the most common forms of equity award granted by multinational companies are stock options, which give employees and other service providers the economic benefit of the increase in value of the company’s stock over a base (or ‘exercise’) price…
Feeling the pinch: who pays TSCA risk evaluation fees?
Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. Ordinarily, government fees command little interest in corporate finance and board-level business circles. Newly imposed fees to defray the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) risk evaluation of high-priority chemical substances under Section 6 of the…
CONTRIBUTORS
Ali Budiardjo Nugroho Reksodiputro (ABNR)
Ashurst LLP
Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.
Brown Rudnick LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
EY
Fieldfisher
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Herbert Smith Freehills
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
L2 Counsel
Minter Ellison LLP
Novartis
Preqin
Redirection
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Sullivan & Worcester